Table of Contents

John Orner murder case (1961).

The situation

Background to the case

More forensic investigation and punishment

On the morning of 01 March 1961 the Columbia South Carolina taxi belonging to local taxidriver John Orner had been discovered empty. Inside, however, there was blood. Orner did not appear anywhere. The body of Mr. Orner was found on the roadside later that day, 3 March 1961. It had been shot in the head. The bullet was found to have traveled through the head and seemed to originate from the taxi’s passenger back seat. A further examination of the evidence revealed it to be a 32 caliber bullet fired from a Harrington and Richardson (H & R) revolver. Harrington and Richardson’s (H & R’s) revolver fired a bullet of 32 caliber. State v Freiburger (2005) Edward Freiburger was absent without leave (AWOL), from Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina. He was discovered hitchhiking near a Tennessee highway. The police officer found the revolver when he patted Mr. Freiburger down. 32 H&R revolver. The hitchhiking was the reason he arrested Freiburger. The investigation continued because Mr. Orner was last seen in a taxi at the NCO club of Fort Jackson while Mr. Freiburger had disappeared. They found out that he’d just purchased a. A local pawnshop sold a 32 H&R, serial number 9948. Police performed ballistic tests but the results were not conclusive. Therefore, no charges were brought. The department, when investigating cold cases 39-years later, conducted a ballistic test using bullet fragments from the scene. It also tested a bullet that was fired by Mr. Freiburger and found a similarity in the striations. He was arrested for murder. Mr. Freiburger has been found guilty and sentenced for life imprisonment.

In this case, ballistics forensics had a large role to play because circumstantial proof was all that was available. Because the suspect was not arrested almost 3 weeks after the death of the victim. The actual prosecution took place almost 40 year later, and the only evidence that was available was the evidence collected at the scene. Some forensics techniques could not be used in the investigation of this case because of these mitigating facts. The blood was not on Mr. Freiburger or his clothing because they didn’t discover him immediately after the crime. They couldn’t do a GSR test because that would only show he came into contact with an object, and it was clear he held a gun. The only way to prove that Mr. Freiburger was the killer of the victim and then the gun, they had to connect the two. In this case, forensics was used in two main ways. The serial numbers were used as identification in order to connect the gun to Mr. Freiburger. Serial numbers, stamped on the firearm during the entire manufacturing process, make it traceable. In this instance, the serial number could be read without any difficulty. In the appeal of Mr. Freiburger’s conviction, one of the arguments he made was that the weapon had not been in his possession for a long time. However, investigators were then able match the serial number from the revolver to that of the revolver Mr. Orner bought a couple of days before his murder. The court ruled that Mr. Freiburger could not appeal his 2005 conviction because this was a crucial evidence. The court established the first step in tying Mr. Freiburger’s firearm to him.

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Essay Title CreatorThe second firearm forensics method that was important in this case was the ballistic test of bullet fragments recovered from the crimescene and their comparison with the firearm used by Mr. Freiburger. Each firearm has a unique ballistic that can tested. After the first test, the investigators determined that the gun used was. This is important because it allowed the investigators to narrow down what type of firearm they were looking for. This was important because it helped the investigators narrow down the type of gun they were searching for. In 1961, the first ballistics test was conducted on the fragments. This was because of the new technology at the time. A comprehensive set of results forced the investigators to release Freiburger, and not to charge him. The ballistic forensics conducted in 2002 revealed a match between the striations of one bullet fragment and the firearm that Mr. Freiburger owned. Striations can be viewed as a fingerprint for the gun used. They are caused by imperfections in the weapon. (Warlow, 2012). The imperfections on a bore or barrel can leave marks and striations as the bullet exits the barrel. A crime scene investigator can use this to compare striations from bullet fragments with bullets fired from the exact same firearm. A bullet’s terminal ballistics means that investigators are not always able determine the firearm from which a fragment came. The striations of a bullet can be more easily matched if it hit a soft surface.

First the department that tested them returned inconclusive findings. Four other investigators performed forensic testing and found the results to be inconclusive. They claimed that the bullets might have come from any. It is not necessary that Mr. Freiburger used a 32 caliber firearm. After a few more attempts, a ballistics specialist was hired. He found that one of the fragments matched the test cases fired by Mr. Freiburger. On the basis of these ballistic tests, the police department charged Mr. Freiburger.

In this case, the forensic advances made it seem that a person had been charged with an offense committed over 40 years before. The case of Mr. Freiburger, who was released in 2016, did not end up being a failure due to poor forensics, but because the prosecution had presented it and that the defense hadn’t used the evidence to defend its client. The prosecutors failed to mention that another revolver had been tested. The prosecutors had also tested a 32-round revolver while they were testing the revolver of Mr. Freiburger. Ballistic tests without the expert private were all inconclusive. The jury was unaware of the inconclusive tests because the prosecution did not present them. They thought the results were conclusive. This case shows how difficult it is to do forensic research. It is not always easy to tell if the bullet has been striated. The investigator must follow the right methods to ensure that the test can be repeated and the findings can be shown. It was the court’s verdict that ordered a trial retrial, not the results.

The investigator’s only role is to give the prosecutor a solid forensic analysis of the case. In the case at hand, Mr. Freiburger’s conviction and life sentence was due to the fact that they had provided all of his evidence. Mr. Freiburger filed an appeal in 2005. His appeal was denied because it had no merit. The Appellate Court in 2016 (14 year after the conviction) agreed that his verdict was wrong, he had a bad defence and ordered a retrial. Because of his previous 14 years and exemplary record in prison, the state chose not to conduct a re-trial. The state considered him guilty but did not re-convict because of his age. Ballistic science proved to be effective in proving that the specific firearm used was the one involved in the crime.

John Orner murder case (1961)The caseOn March 1st 1961, a taxi driver from Columbia, South Carolina, named John Orner had been found dead by a roadside. Orner served soldiers regularly at Fort Jackson. Orner was dispatched to the Fort Jackson club for the night of February 28th 1961 at 11:15pm. When Orner didn’t arrive home the following day after working, his family filed a missing person report. Orner was reported missing by his family the next morning when he didn’t return home from work. Orner was nowhere to be found in the vehicle. On March 3rd 1961, the body of Orner was discovered by the side of a Columbian road. He died from a brain injury, and the bullet marks on the body clearly showed that it was a passenger in back of the taxi who had fired the shot. The forensic examinations revealed that he had a gunshot wound to the head caused by a.32-caliber bullet fired out of a Harrington and Richardson revolver.

Background to the caseA suspect was identified as a man named Freiburger. In 1961, Freiburger was an army personal stationed in Fort Jackson. Pawn records show that, on February 28, 1961 – the day Orner died – Freiburger purchased a.32 cal. H & R.32 caliber revolver (serial number 9948) from Capital Loan & Pawn, 1214 Main Street.

Donald Meredith, a highway patrolman in Tennessee, stopped Freiburger a few days later, around 11pm. He was hitchhiking and asking strangers for a lift. Meredith said that he had stopped Freiburger as it was dangerous to walk on the street and ask for a ride, especially in an area where people have been hit by cars. Meredith patted Freiburger down and found a loaded H & R.32 caliber revolver. Meredith confiscated the gun after arresting Freiburger. Richland County Authorities (investigating Orner’s Murder) requested that the H & R Revolver be seized after Freiburger’s arrested. Patrolman Meredith complied. Freiburger is not charged due to the lack clear evidence. In that moment, testing the wepapon was not able to determine if the weapon used for Orner’s death is the same or different. Freiburger was not punished for his crimes at the time.

In August 2000, exactly 40 years after the murder of John Orner, Richland County Sheriff’s Department opened up the case. The gun and fragments of bullets were tested again. At first, the results were indecisive. The bullet fragments on Orner were identified as coming from the same revolver. Freiburger has been arrested and charged for murder. He was found guilty by the jury, and sentenced into captivity.